Denver City Council tonight to look at raising pay of a few mayoral appointees

Denver City Council tonight will consider an ordinance that would change the pay grade of four mayoral appointees and also change the title for one of the positions.

The Denver Post recently published an analysis of pay being offered to appointees under Mayor Michael Hancock as compared with former Mayor John Hickenlooper. The analysis found that Hancock had more appointees and was paying them more than in Hickenlooper’s first year. But the number and pay was equivalent to Hickenlooper’s eighth year in office.

If approved by the council, the pay increase for deputy city attorney would go from the maximum of $178,000 to up to $204,431. The deputy parks and recreation manager position would go from the maximum of $116,776 to $142,677.

Director of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development would be changed to Director of the Denver Office of Economic Development, and the annual salary for that new position would go from a maximum of $152,530 to $174,334. Also, the pay for Chief Information Officer would be increased to a maximum of $226,608. That current position under Hancock has a salary of $156,394 and is the fourth highest salary among city workers.Correction: The Chief Information Officer position was not in the ordinance that was approved 10-1 by council Monday night.

The pay ranges were determined by a salary survey of public and private equivalent jobs, said Christopher Lujan, interim director of Denver’s Career Service Authority.

“Pay is set by ordinance,” he said. “CSA is asked to go out and look at pay, both private and public, to see comparable pay for positions. We make a recommendation to council. It is either accepted, rejected or modified.”

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.